To face this health and socioeconomic crisis that is hitting Europe, six partners from five different countries (Belgium, Croatia, Finland, Portugal and The Netherlands) have decided to gather efforts through the creation of a Sport regions network to boost the Excellence in the definition and implementation of sport policies based on the SportRegion Excellence method. This method aims to improve their capacity to operate at transnational level by defining a holistic and innovative programme of activities addressing common needs and challenges, sharing, and implementing innovative best practices and experiences from a transdisciplinary dimension and promoting the exchange of common resources.

The SESE project through the SportRegion Method aims to impact positively on the wellbeing of population living in sport regions through the promotion of Sport as a pillar of social and health improvement. Thus, Excellence Sportegions network is based on the idea that the success and experiences of other regionis based on the idea that the success and experiences of other regions can help us to advance towards a more inclusive, smarter, and sustainable sport’s sector though sharing ideas and knowledge to strengthen the philosophy that Sport really has the power to build societies.implementation of sport policies based on the SportRegion Excellence method.

This method aims to improve their capacity to operate at transnational level by defining a holistic and innovative programme of activities addressing common needs and challenges, sharing, and implementing innovative best practices and experiences from a transdisciplinary dimension and promoting the exchange of common resources. The SESE project through the SportRegion Method aims to impact positively on the wellbeing of population living in sport regions through the promotion of Sport as a pillar of social and health improvement.

The project has the following objectives:

1) Creating the first Pan-European network of regions based in an interregional value chain in the field of sport with the objective of:

• increasing and  stabilizing the standards to promote excellence in Sport Policies from a cross-sectorial dimension and focusing on three main topics: social inclusion, digitalisation, and business creation and promoting European values and principles;
• providing a methodological framework and different learning tools (Capacity Building Programme, Twinning-Programme, Pool of experts, etc) to improve the capacity of partners and relevant stakeholders that are participating in the network to operate at the transnational level and identify common synergies and complementarities to work jointly on the improvement and/or provision of high quality and innovative products and services;
• establishing the bases for long-term cooperation among organisations from the Q4-Helix strengthening the cross-sectorial dimension of the network.

2) Promoting an integral programme of activities focused on:

• the promotion of a favourable ecosystem to identify and share best practices around Europe b) the definition of a methodological framework that facilitate the process of incorporating in an effective way the lessons learned from the exchange of experiences and best practices;
• definition and implementation of the SportRegion Excellence model to transfer and incorporate best practices, share experiences and lesson learned among different European regions;
• providing a methodological framework and different learning tools (Capacity Building Programme, Twinning-Programme, Pool of experts, etc.

Specific Objectives:

1. To empower Sport regions by sharing the best strategies with other regions in the country and by improving good governance as well as transferring lesson learned.
2. To promote social inclusion, gender equality, diversity, integration, cohesion, wellbeing and life and health quality by using sport.
3. To facilitate the practice of sport by promoting inclusive regional policies.
4. To contribute to the digital transformation of sport regions.
5. To increase social conscience about the social and health benefits of practising sports.
6. To create strong and long-term collaboration, leading European regions towards Excellence in Sports
7. To create a favourable ecosystem to promote new alliances, innovative projects, transfer of innovation and facilitate the identification and creation of new business models in the sport’s sectors from a cross-sectorial and multi-stakeholder’s perspective.
8. To improve and strengthen partners management capacities and skills to advance towards Excellence Sportregions model through the definition of a Capacity Building Programme, the Twinning programme, and the Pool of Experts.
9. To contribute to rise-awareness on the partners activities and Erasmus+ disseminating the project results and objectives achieved.

Phase 1: Preparation and collection of data. Definition of the methodological framework (M1 to M9)

Main outputs:
– Methodological framework
– Criteria for the selection of best practices
– Benchmarking and complementarity study
– Sportregion Excellence Model

Phase 2: Implementation of the methodological framework (M10 to M30)

Main outputs:
– Report of results of the Excellence Sportregions model
– Identification of at least 20 best practices
– Identification and development of at least 5 new business models

Phase 3: Building capacitation and transnational cooperation (M20 to M30)

– E-book with the content of the training programme
– Programme of the Twinning-programme
– Report of results of the Twinning programme

Phase 4: Evaluation of the impact of the methodological framework (M28 to M34)

– Report of results of the qualitative and quantitative indicators
– Guideline of recommendations to boost the adoption of the sportergion excellence model

Phase 5: Follow-up and monitoring (M1 to M36)

– Report of results of the qualitative and quantitative indicators
– Progress reports
– Final reports